gabriel wheater is safe. >> reporter: abc news contributing correspondent mike boettcher, who lives inscene nearby briarwood elementary. >> the good news now is that students in the school and adults associated with the school tell us that no children died. that tornado passed right over that school. we were less than a mile from it when it hit the school. and you can see the explosion and the debris once it hit that large stone structure. >> reporter: outside briarwood elementary school i ran across this woman still trying to find her niece. >> i'm glad that everybody's okay. looking at that it's hard to believe. >> reporter: when the tornado came through and you found out it hit the school. >> when i saw it, a picture of it on the news, i was at work. i was in tears. and my house is on the same block as the school. so i knew at that point that -- i was going to come home to this. >> reporter: this is still such a raw situation. you can see behind me we've got the search is rescue dogs, plenty of firefighters, and just complete and utter devastation. helping with the search and rescue